Little cowgirl and painters

Julia has made a remarkable change in riding horses since she got this new pony. She can't wait to ride and wants to ride every day and 2 or 3 times a day. Poor pony. She (the pony) is going to get into shape if this keeps up. So far, she has been really quiet. Julia rode her all alone on the trails on Sunday afternoon, even by the road.
Hannah and Daniel worked hard at painting the garage door and window sills today. It was a great drying day and HOT. We ran out of paint before we even had one coat on, so the paint store owner delivered us another can. Anyone else need painting done???

Boys Plus Dirt, continued

The boys are busy working on their new and improved track. The girls are busy enjoying their new arena. Busy boys, happy girls; win/win situation!

New and exciting

A picture of the dozer making our new horse arena. We now have sand on it and can use it to practice riding in shows with. Leah wants to set up some jumps in it and jump Doc.

This is the new pony. She is really sweet but needs a new name. Lady (the name the other family called her) just doesn't seem to fit. We are open to suggestions.

Boys plus dirt

What can 3 boys do with lots of dirt? We will keep you posted. Big jumps, table tops, whoopdee-doos, and birms are all dancing in their heads. There was quite a bit of dirt taken off our arena to level the spot, so they have lots to work with.

New pony (another one!!!)

Well, today Leah and I went to a very big horse auction and spent the money we made from selling Princess and Timbit on. . . . . . . . you guessed it, a new pony! She is a 12 year old paint pony about 12HH and very quiet. We rode her tonight after getting her home and she did very good. Jim and Daniel even rode their dirtbikes in the pasture with her and she didn't run from them. (She was watching them though!) I originally thought I would just resell this pony to the people who asked me to buy one for them, but we may end up keeping her. We will ride her on the road and on the trails to see what she is made of tomorrow.

New arena???

Today a man who owns a bulldozer came (at my request) to give us an estimate on levelling a spot for a horse arena. His prices were good, so I am hoping that Jim will let us do this. It really is a win/win thing for the bikers and horse people. When he moves the topsoil off the arena area, there will be LOTS of dirt for the boys to build bigger and better jumps with. I think the most costly thing about an arena is the sand. If we had a 120ft x 70ft arena size and wanted 4inches of sand on all of it, it may take about 20 dump truck loads of sand to get that. So, maybe we will have to doze the area this year and put sand in it next year!

I got a call from Canada Post for an interview about a job I had applied for. This is working for the post office, which is a government job. It is a part time job, which is good, but it is every weekday morning for 1 hour. I am hoping if I get it, I can get my foot in the door for a better job there. They pay very good. Another company who helps handicapped adults live independently in the community asked me to work for them. We are just working out the details and that job. It is a relief staff position, so I can pick and choose my shifts. It is also a Christian organization, which seems very responsible about who works for them.

We had someone ask us to find them a pony. It is a couple who are very wealthy and have a granddaughter they want to buy a pony for. They really wanted to buy Princess, but we had already sold her. I apologized to them about already selling her and asked them if they wanted me to find and train another one for them. They said they did. Hopefully, we can make a good profit from this deal and finish our arena this year. (Lets see, Leah and I could call ourselves "The Pony Gals" and start our own business of buying and selling ponies!)

Graduation night

Andrew on graduation night. You make us proud, son! Congratuations!

Recent happenings

Leah and Doc looking mighty fine in English attire!

This is a picture of the dog run we recently built to keep our new dogs in outside. The day after we got home from Illinois, Ellie got loose and almost got hit on the road. This fence is keeping them in so far. In the winter, we plan to have them indoors. (I think!)

Real bikers

Real bikers pedal! Happily! See them all smiling? This IS fun, even in HOT weather, on LONG rides, with broken bikes! Fun, fun. (I had fun, anyway) Can't wait for snowcones!

Lots of puppies?

Last night we were over at our neighbors talking and Topsy (our Jack Russel) was with us. Their dog was an un-neutered male Shitz su (sp) and Topsy is in heat. So we left her there for a few hours and made a deal with the male's owner--they can have the pick of the litter if she has pups. Our kids are VERY excited that she might have pups. ARE WE READY FOR THIS????

Sweet reward

Ahhhhh, sweet relief. This was worth the bike ride.

Biking blasts and blunders

Biking with the Baurers was a blast but there were some blunders. Hope all are healing quickly so y'all can get as much saddle time as possible this summer. (Maybe the horse's saddle is safer???)

Illinois vacation

The Baxter family is now growing. We recently bought 2 mini dachshunds from Sara and John Ehnle while in Illinois. This is Odie, the puppy. Crossing the border with them was much easier than I anticipated and we got them home safely. Now for potty training!

A cute picture of the Baurer's new addition. She seems really sweet.

A very popular spot for the kids to hang out at the Baurer's house. Can't imagine algae growing on the sides of that pool!

The happy bikers BEFORE the bike ride. We were all able to complete the 15 mile ride in fairly good spirits despite the HOT weather that day. The promise of snow cones after the ride was the incentive to finish. The Baxters all went home and had a nap after we were done at the ride. I would do it again, but am not sure if any of the kids will.

We did have a safe and uneventful trip back to Canada, so thank you for your prayers. Ryan and Rosie, Caleb and Benji, we missed seeing you guys this trip. Thank you all for putting up with us and putting us up. We enjoyed our trip. Now, back to reality (which includes the washing machine and dish soap!)